ただいま！

If you’d told me that two sports titles were going to be what got me back into anime/manga after more than ten years, I would have laughed at you. Loudly. To your face.

a.k.a in which I haven’t blogged in almost three months so let me share this heteronormativity-defying pit I’ve fallen into.

–o–

Yuri!!! on Ice hit me like a freight train. One minute, I was dismissing it as another anime full of ambiguously gay pretty boys that my friends wouldn’t stop talking about. Next thing I knew, I was willingly squished against hundreds of other fans in a packed events hall, spending a good few thousand pesos on merch at a YoI fan convention.

There are already so many good blogs and vlogs about this show, that I don’t feel like I have anything new to add. I will say that YoI was a breath of fresh air for me last year. Superb animation and choreography, no unnecessary drama, no exaggerated skills, wonderfully endearing characters with an equally wonderful portrayal of queer characters. If I had to nitpick, I’d say I wish we had more backstory, but it isn’t imperative.

A movie was recently green-lit, and I am equal parts excited and apprehensive. I’m of the unpopular opinion camp that is satisfied with just the first season. I like open endings, what can I say? I am also, however, trash of dumpster fire proportions and will still take everything they throw at me with gusto. We’ll just have to wait and see.

–o–

I read Ballroom e Youkoso at Khursten’s suggestion and Leng’s prodding because I needed to fill the void that YoIleft in my heart.

Not gonna lie, it took me a while to get into the swing (ha-ha!) of things because coming from YoI, I found the sheer shounen-ness and seishun-ness of BeY, jarring. For a manga about dancesport, I just wasn’t expecting so much testosterone. By Volume 3, I realised I was completely emotionally invested and there was no hope for me now.

Sengoku can step on me for all I care and I’d still thank him.

The art is absolutely stunning and I am in love with how dynamic it is. What I really appreciate about this series though, are the relationships between characters. Because ballroom is a partner-reliant sport, the relationship dynamics in this series are intense and complex but not necessarily romantic — which I find so refreshing. I’m all caught up with the latest translated volume and now have nothing to do until the anime premieres this July.

I am aware that I’m hyperfixating on these two titles, but I think it’s because I’ve taken an indefinite hiatus from Western Comics & related media and all that fangirl energy has to go somewhere hahaha! Oh well, アニメただいま！